The Duty of a King
by FiliFanForever
Summary: Sequel to my previous story, "The Duty of an Heir", which definitely should be read beforehand for maximum understanding of this story. When Thorin Oakenshield departs after a long and successful rule, his heir is left to pick up the pieces. Will Fili fall to the dragon-sickness, like his ancestors before him? Or is there something in him that will keep him safe?
1. Prologue

Thank you all for your extremely kind reviews of my first story, The Duty of an Heir. Here is the sequel. It's quite a bit darker than the first, but I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

**Prologue**

Kili gazed with tear-filled eyes at the sight. Thorin, lying still with Orcrist in his venerable, battle-scarred hands; Fili, his pale face looking more ashen than usual and his eyes bloodshot, trying with all his might to hold back tears; Dis, Valni, and Balin, shamelessly weeping; Dwalin, tearing his beard in the Dwarven expression of unrestrained grief.

Yes, Thorin had died. After years of a strong rule, characterized by his constant struggle against the return of his dragon-sickness, he had gone, leaving all who had loved him to pick up the pieces. Kili watched as the engraved stone was lowered over Thorin's body, and Fili fell to his knees as the sight of his uncle was removed from him. He already knew that Thorin was gone, but the placing of the stone gave an unavoidable feeling of finality, as Fili let the fact that he would never see his uncle again sink in. A choir of deep-voiced dwarves chanted a funeral dirge in Khuzdul as the whole kingdom mourned the loss of their King Under the Mountain.

Kili really pitied Fili at this moment, when he was forced to collect himself and stand. He was expected to say something, and Kili got the urge to run up and take poor Fili away from the scene so that he could mourn freely. But now, the duty of an heir, his final duty as an heir, was to remind the world of the king who came before.

As Kili looked at Fili standing in front of the mass of mourning dwarves, he noticed with a start how much older Fili looked now. The more carefree, eager Fili from the days of the Quest for Erebor was gone. This Fili, weighed with sorrow and care, had deep shadows under his eyes; some streaks of grey had tainted the golden glory of his hair.

"Thorin Oakenshield," Fili choked as he reached up to wipe his eye, "...was... a father to me and my brother, after our own father had gone... he raised us as his own. He taught me everything I know about how to be a good and just king. And now I can only hope to be half of what he was for us." He turned away and put his hood over his head, shading his eyes. Kili knew that Fili wanted nothing better than to hide from the world, but now, his duty called him to rule his people.


	2. Chapter 1: Now Come the Days of the King

**Chapter 1: Now Come the Days of the King**

The morning of Fili's official coronation, nearly a month after Thorin's passing, found Fili's heart still aching. He understood now what it meant to lose one dearly loved person, let alone many loved people and an entire kingdom as had happened when Smaug came. He felt guilty for having never understood fully the loss of Erebor and all that entailed.

Ordinarily, he would have taken great pleasure in arranging his hair for the special day, but now he barely noticed Kili and Valni's loving hands tenderly plaiting the long strands. Staring listlessly at himself in the mirror, he noticed how much his eyes were like Thorin's and his mother's, and his heart sank. He no longer had any tears to cry, but he almost wished he did.

He gazed down at Thorin's ring, the same one that he had worn throughout the Quest. Thorin's hands had been much bigger than his own, and Fili was only able to fit the ring on his thumb. When offered to have it sized, Fili refused, as the thought of changing anything that had belonged to Thorin was utterly out of the question.

Fili brought his hand up to his eye level and stroked the blue gem encased in a cage of silver. He remembered when Thorin gave it to him as he was watching by Thorin's side. It had been one of the last things Thorin did.

_"Fili?" Thorin gasped, reaching for Fili's hand. _

_"I'm here, Uncle," Fili whispered brokenly. _

_"I want you to have this," Thorin said, struggling to take the ring off his middle finger. _

_"Uncle—no... I couldn't..." _

_"I have no use for it anymore," said Thorin, cracking a half-smile, "Where I am going, there is no need or want for the jewels of the earth. Remember that, Fili," Thorin reached up and caressed his cheek lovingly, "The mark of a true King Under the Mountain is not in the wealth of his kingdom but in the qualities of his heart. I think you know that already... but it took me some time. It took our little burglar to teach me that." He coughed violently, and Fili started up, knowing full well that it was the end. He called the others and sat again by Thorin's side, weeping. Thorin took Fili's hand again and looked into his eyes. "I could not leave Erebor in safer hands. Teach your children well, and let Kili help you in your daily tasks. A devoted and loving brother such as he will prove to be the best advisor. Farewell, all of you, and we will meet again when we join the guard of our Fathers." _

_Fili closed Thorin's eyes and clasped his hands over his breast._

Fili looked down at the ring again and tried to put it on a different finger. It was still too big. _I can't fill the space that Thorin left... neither literally nor figuratively. _

"Fili?" Kili patted his shoulder, shaking him out of his reverie. Fili looked at his reflection as he stood up slowly. Valni, Dis, and Kili had all put much care into making Fili look as majestic as possible, it appeared. Since the normal deep blue color of the Durin line made Fili look washed-out or small, they had opted for a deep burgundy that complimented his golden hair, with black fur accents. He had a long cloak that swept the floor behind him. The pattern of his seal was repeated throughout all of the bordering of his tunic, robe, cloak, and hair clasps. His hair was braided into many tiny, intricate braids, while leaving enough space for the Raven Crown to fit comfortably on his head later in the day. Fili sighed and feebly thanked all of them for their work.

He took the hammer that was to be used in the ceremony and stopped by the door. Valni was dressed for the occasion as well, and Fili's heart leapt as he saw that she was wearing a matching shade of red that brought out the glow in her cheeks and the green of her eyes. To Fili, bearing two children had not diminished her beauty in any way. He knew that before him stood the greatest Queen Under the Mountain that there would ever be. Overcome with love, he leaned in to kiss her before Balin called through the door that everything was ready.

The Hall of Kings was silent as Fili came up through the center towards the throne. As rehearsed, he got down on one knee, leaning on the hammer, a representation of the hammer of Mahal.

"Here do I swear by the sacred trust of Durin the Deathless, Mahal, may His name be praised, who spared Durin from the just wrath of Illuvatar in the first ages of Arda, all the kings of the Longbeard clan, and my own honor, to uphold the strength, power, and glory of Erebor while the Mountain is under my rule."

Balin stood with the Raven Crown. Fili looked up at that same crown that had been worn by Thorin, Thrain, Thror, and others before them, and hoped that he would at least do what was right for his people.

"Do you accept this crown and all the responsibility that comes with it: to defend your people at all costs, to rule with both mercy and justice, and to never violate the trust that has come down to you through the sacred line of Durin?" Balin asked him.

Fili sighed heavily, bowing his head. "Yes, I do."

Balin breathed in, smiling happily as he approached Fili to complete the ceremony with the official naming of Fili as King Under the Mountain. Placing the Raven Crown on Fili's head, he proclaimed in Khuzdul:

"_Fili Rayad Durin, Noliul, Zaharul Siginturgul, mâ Uzbad Undu 'Abad!" * _

Fili stood and faced the crowd to the roar of deafening applause.

*"Fili Heir of Durin, son of Noli, of the Longbeard clan, now become King Under the Mountain!"


	3. Chapter 2: Children of the King

**Chapter 2: Children of the King**

Valdis crept into Falki's room. As usual, his blonde head was bent over his desk as he read attentively. Ever since his father had become the King Under the Mountain, he was more attentive to his studies than ever before, and he pored endlessly over old documents of laws and procedures. Valdis did not share his sense of duty, and she flopped on his bed, waiting for him to notice her. When he didn't, she whined, "Brother..."

He looked up, his sad green eyes meeting her lively brown ones. "What?"

"Will you _ever _stop studying and play with me like we used to?"

Falki nodded slightly. "Yes, when I'm finished. You know that _'adad*_ is very tired now and I don't want to make him worry about me."

He turned back to his reading. Valdis rolled over and sighed sadly. Falki's heart broke and he turned to look at his sister again.

"What is it that you want to do?"

Valdis' eyes lit up as she jumped up and tackled Falki. Unprepared for this development, he had to brace his legs to prevent the chair from falling over.

"I don't know, anything!" she exclaimed, dragging him to their parents' room. Valni stood up, smiling as the whirlwind that was her children engulfed her in a tight hug.

"We're going to go play with Pilinel and Thili and Hadar, '_amad!** _Is that alright?_" _

Valni nodded at Falki, wondering what had gotten into him. Seeing the still-sad look in his eyes, she determined that it probably wasn't his idea, but a little distraction would be good for him. Falki had not only inherited his golden hair from Fili, but also much of Fili's personality. Valni knew from experience that Fili would sometimes bottle up his feelings and shut himself off from those he loved when anything remotely stressful happened so as to spare them from it, and Falki had a similar tendency. Valdis was what Kili would have looked like had he been a girl, but was not nearly as reckless. Still, when compared to Falki, she seemed extremely boisterous.

"Of course you can go. Don't break anything," she added, laughing to herself at the thought. _ If Kili's own children haven't broken anything yet, Falki and Valdis won't. _

It was a short walk from Fili's rooms to Kili's, and Falki and Valdis were soon in their cousins' house. From an early age, Falki and Valdis had accepted without difficulty the fact that their cousins were half-elf, although they had been carefully taught by Thorin that all other elves were traitors and to be completely shunned. Tauriel was the exception, Thorin grudgingly told them, because she had saved Fili and Kili's lives. When Falki had gotten a little older, he had begun to realize that hardly anyone else shared the same views. Besides the dwarves of the Company of Thorin, the other dwarves in Erebor did not even try to accept Kili's children. Their displeasure was not outright, out of respect or fear of Kili's position, but it could be seen in the way they spoke to them (carefully, distantly, and certainly not in Khuzdul, which they thought no non-Dwarf, even half-Dwarves, should know, although Kili's children already did), and in their judgmental glances when they thought that no one was looking. Falki had taken it as his responsibility to protect his cousins from the prejudice of his people, and that assumed responsibility had always been a source of great inner turmoil for him. How could he, as heir to the throne of the foremost kingdom of Dwarves, deny what his people had believed for ages upon ages?

The youngest, Hadar, ran to hug Falki's legs as he walked in. Falki smiled and ruffled his red hair, reflecting that he looked so much like his mother, with his lively grey-green eyes. His name meant "powerful archer" in the Sindarin dialect of the Elves. Thili, the middle child, was Valdis' favorite, since they were the closest in age. She had taken after Thorin, with her dark hair and icy blue eyes, and her name was a happy combination of Thorin's and Kili's names and the Sindarin word meaning "to glisten". She stood up as the cousins entered and ran off with Valdis, giggling. Now Falki was left alone with the oldest, Pilinel, who was Falki's age but of course much taller. She had been named "star-arrow" in Sindarin, as a nod back to the fact that Kili and Tauriel were both archers, and the stars had been a subject of their earliest conversations.

Right now, Pilinel was coming up to Falki with a strange look in her eye. "Will you braid my hair, cousin?" she said in her musical Elf-like voice.

"Why, Nel?" Falki stammered, "It's fine the way it is."

She was unamused. "When I wear it down, it looks too Elvish. Now, if you could do something like what your mum wears..."

Falki sighed. She was trying too hard to fit in, although she knew she never really would. "Fine. You'll have to sit though."

She huffed moodily as she dragged up a chair, "See, that's another thing. I'm tired of being taller than everyone! It's..."

Falki cut her off, hoping to make her think of something else, "Well, it's not that hard to be taller than me."

She laughed as he grabbed a strand of her hair with his small fingers, and then both of them relapsed into silence. Suddenly, as Falki was starting on the other side of her head, she asked, "Falki?"

"What?"

"How old were you when your beard started to come in?"

Falki sighed. "I don't remember," he muttered feebly, although he did remember well.

"Do you think I'll ever grow one? People are starting to talk..."

_They've been talking since before you were born, _Falki angrily thought to himself, _Nothing will make them stop now. _

"I don't know," he finally decided to say, seeing that she actually was awaiting a response.

To Falki, his cousin had always been as beautiful as any dwarf-woman, but in a different way. He could only hope that one day, some man would think the same thing.

* 'adad = father

** 'amad = mother


	4. Chapter 3: Gold

**Chapter 3: Gold**

Fili could hear himself breathing heavily as he crept through the halls of Erebor. An oppressive, thick scent enveloped him as he came closer to the Great Hall. He stopped as he came to the vast, uncounted horde of gold and wondered why it was all scattered around the floor as it had been in the time of the reclamation of the mountain.

A deep stirring awoke in his heart as he beheld that endless sea of gold; vast, immeasurable, scintillating... the surface rose and fell like so many waves in the ocean as his feet touched them. As he walked forward, he felt as though he were drowning, blissfully drowning in the precious metal, and all the bright gems afloat in those shimmering waves...

He looked up and was met by a different sea, an icy, watery depth that struck him as being frozen. That is to say, instead of being a living, moving body of water, it was as motionless as Kheled-zaram and much more lifeless. A deep voice came up from the depths as the pools flashed.

"Do you have it?"

"Have what?"

"The Arkenstone... you have it. You would hide it from me. You would be king!"

Thorin drew back, his steely eyes flashing with anger at Fili. "I regarded you as my sons, my heirs... one of you has taken it! One of you has betrayed me!" He reached out slowly as if to strike Fili, but Fili drew back and knelt in the gold. He ought to have been looking at his king, swearing his fealty, but he was drawn by the gold as it pressed itself unrelentingly against his knees. He allowed himself to look down at those waves again, even under the gaze of his uncle's eyes. He resisted it, but it pulled him down until he was cupping it in his hands, caressing the cold metal, feeling every detail of the etchings, desiring it with his whole heart and strength.

"Ah, I see... you and I..." Thorin said, brokenly, while drawing himself up to his full height, "You and I are the same..."

Fili looked up, eyes blazing. He felt in him a nameless fire and the consciousness of having to defend something, fight to the death for it, but he didn't know what.

"Welcome, my sister-son, to the kingdom of Erebor," Thorin said now, gesturing to that yellow sea. He was inviting him to partake of the richness, and gladly Fili took the chance.

Thorin stretched out his hand, and Fili took it. Bending down, Thorin began to press his forehead to Fili's. Fili's eyes closed as he prepared for the contact, but something made him open them. Thorin's eyes were hollow now, a blazing, empty flame. Fili felt that he could almost see into his mind, and he beheld an endless, maddening kaleidoscope of gold, the Arkenstone, gold, the Arkenstone...

He jumped as he realized that the hand that was holding his was beginning to freeze and toughen. Looking up, Fili screamed, and the sound echoed through all of the vast hall as Thorin raised his head and cascading golden scales covered his face. He turned to fix a lidless, penetrating eye on Fili as he tried to run away...

He couldn't get out. Those piles and waves that he had so lusted over before had turned on him and blocked his exit, and made his steps drag...

The golden dragon laughed cruelly as he prepared his final fire.

"FILI!"

Fili opened his eyes with a start as he realized that he was now in his own bedroom. What had saved him?...

"Fili, are you alright?" Fili sat up and fingered the beads of sweat that had broken out on his forehead as he realized that it was just a dream. He clutched at Valni's hands and the terror in her eyes tore at his heart.

"What happened?"

"You—" she said, her voice breaking, "Well, at first it was tossing and turning, and then you whimpered like you were in pain, and you sat up and started screaming and I didn't know what to do..."

"Shh," Fili whispered, holding her to his chest as he tried to comfort her, "It was just a nightmare, I think."

"I know," came the muffled response, "But it still scared me to see you like that."

Fili breathed deeply. A gnawing suspicion was crawling in his mind, and he wanted to find out the truth.

"Valni," he said, stroking her hair and trying to sound casual, "Do I... have I started doing anything recently that bothers you or scares you?"

She looked surprised. "Of course not."

Fili wasn't so sure.


End file.
